A dental scaler has been used widely as a treatment instrument and an instrument which vibrates a tip mounted thereto using ultrasonic wave to remove dental calculus or other foreign substance deposited on teeth, and material for the scaler tip has a abrasion resistance requirement.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional scaler tip 100 consists of a coupling section 111 having a fluid passage 115 formed therein and used for injecting cleaning water or air and a curved shaped-tip section 113 extended and tapered gradually from the coupling section 111.
A screw section is formed at an entrance of the fluid passage 115 of the coupling section 111 for coupling the scaler tip to the equipment, a flat surface area is formed on an outer side of a fixing section for preventing the scaler tip from rotating in the state that the equipment and the scaler tip are coupled to each other, and a shape of front end portion of the tip section can be changed variously according to a purpose.
The scaler tip constructed as above is the small member with the entire length of approximately 30 mm or less and a maximum outer diameter of 4 mm or less. The scaler tip is used for crushing dental calculus using ultrasonic wave, separating crushed dental calculus from teeth and injecting cleaning water or air through the fluid passage 115 to expose well an area to be treated. To perform the above functions, it is desirable that cleaning water is smoothly injected toward a front end along a curved section of the scaler tip.
The scaler tip is manufactured by a the machining work method including a multiple cutting process for forming the fluid passage on an inside and outside of a working piece, a bending process for working the fluid passage using a jig and a polishing process for forming the tip section. And, a surface of the tip section is coated with titanium.
The conventional technique as described has the problems in that the small sized article having a difficulty in handling is manufactured through the machining working method consisting of the multiple processes so that the productivity becomes lower and a scrap and loss of material are increased due to a working characteristic of cutting process to increase a manufacturing cost.
Also, the conventional technique has the problems in that since the scaler tip is manufactured by the machining working, it is difficult to work the fluid passage with a small inner diameter to increase an error rate, an additional working process is required for forming the discharge port 116 having an inclined shape, and an accurate injection direction of cleaning water or air is not obtained unless the discharge is precisely worked to maintain a specific angle of the discharge port so that this discharge port can adversely affect the operation.
Also, since a surface of the article is coated, if the coating layer is peeled from the article or worn away, there is a doubt about a medical safety.